Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In this thesis we discuss how to combine optical fiber technology with metallic nanostructures. We present techniques to incorporate gold nanowires in photonic crystal- and microstructured-fibers. The unique optical properties of both, dielectrics and metals, result in a synergy between light manipulation on the nanoscale on the one hand and signal transmission using optical fibers on the other hand. We show that a gold nanowire, placed in the center of a photonic crystal fiber core, effectively attenuates all modes except the azimuthally polarized mode. Therefore the fiber acts as an azimuthal polarizing filter having a spectral bandwidth of almost three optical octaves. The local polarization state and near-field distribution of surface plasmon polaritons, excited on a coupled gold nanowire array, are measured for the first time in the 2D transverse dimensions. Using a new fabrication technique, based on wet chemical etching and mechanical cleaving, we have fabricated sharp gold nanotips, attached to optical fibers, that show strongly localized plasmonic “hotspots” and can act as novel near-field probes. The experimental results are complemented by theoretical discussions, comprising optical properties of dielectrics and metals, guided modes in cylindrical symmetric waveguides, surface plasmon polaritons and hybrid dielectric-metal structures supporting photonic-plasmonic supermodes.
Author: Patrick Uebel
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3194553942